Guardian and WaPo Win Pulitzers for NSA Coverage

The Guardian and Washington Post have won gold medal Pulitzer Prizes for their coverage of the National Security Agency's secret electronic surveillance program. The announcement is here. The full list of winners, with citations, is here.

For a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalistic resources, including the use of stories, editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics, videos, databases, multimedia or interactive presentations or other visual material, a gold
medal.

Awarded to The Washington Post for its revelation of widespread secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, marked by authoritative and insightful reports that helped the public understand how the disclosures fit into the larger framework of national security.

[More....]

Awarded to The Guardian US for its revelation of widespread secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, helping through aggressive reporting to spark a debate about the relationship between the government and the public over issues of security and privacy.

... Chris Hamby and the good folks at the Center for Public Integrity, on the occasion of Hamby's well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for "Breathless and Burdened," which chronicles the backstory behind the repeated denials of claims by employers and insurers to victims of black lung infections in West Virginia. (This also marks the very first time that someone from CPI has won a Pulitzer.)

And conversely, beaucoup boos and hisses to preening divas Brian Ross and Matt Mosk over at ABC News, for their subsequent and startlingly blatant attempt to claim credit for Hamby's investigation, a rather large body of work which they quite obviously did not produce.

And a prominent middle finger salute must be offered to Ross's and Mosk's producers and bosses at ABC, for supporting the specious claims of those two parasites without first knowing all the facts.

(Normally, I wouldn't link Politico, but I did so in this particular instance because in my opinion, there is really no better conduit for the rapid dissemination of vicious gossip and unfounded allegations on the eastern seaboard than Politico. Nobody.)

Everyone at ABC News should really be embarrassed of themselves in this entire sorry matter, and those running the show there should first offer a public apology to CPI for having cast inappropriate aspersions on Hamby's professionalism and CPI's integrity, and then summarily toss both Ross and Mosk out the door on their fat kiesters.